The device, called a thermionics converter, allows for the recapture and conversion of the excess heat generated by traditional power sources into additional energy.

Although the thermionics converter could conceivably become a stand alone technology in the future, Salt Lake City-based Eneco sees that device as initially being used to augment existing power devices, such as traditional turbines.

"We think a better utilization is to augment rather than replace them ," Eneco Chief Executive Officer Lew Brown said this week. "The earliest adaptations will be from the standpoint of not just burning additional fuel but gaining additional energy efficiency."

Eneco's device, which resembles a semiconductor wafer, contains no moving parts, thereby making it quieter and less prone to breakage than traditional power generation devices.

Roughly one millimeter by one millimeter, and about half a millimeter in thickness, the device was developed by Eneco scientist Yan Kucherov and MIT researcher Peter Hagelstein.

The U.S. Department of Defense is particularly interested in the device, Brown said. Because it increases fuel efficiency by up to 20 percent, the thermionics converter would allow troops to carry less fuel with them on maneuvers. Also because it produces almost no detectable noise or electrical pollution, the device would aid covert operations.

"It would be a 'stealth' generator," Brown said.

As a result, the defense department has provided up to 10 percent of Eneco's research funding, roughly $500,000 over the past two years, according Eneco marketing director Leroy Becker. The remainder of Eneco's financing is from private investors.

Eneco officials also say that a plausible near-term application of their technology would be in the automotive industry. Although the device does not directly reduce fuel emissions, it does significantly increase fuel efficiency without producing any additional heat.

It could could eventually replace traditional car alternators and compressors, the company said.